Steve Bull : Black Country derby success was everything to me
Steve Bull crossed the Black Country divide very early in his career, making him a hero at Wolves and villain at Albion. He talks through his derby day memories.
The Black Country derby is finally back – and it is a game which has always meant so much.
Going up against Albion is massive for any Wolves player, a game you can’t bear thinking about losing, but it was everything to me.
Having come over in 1986, I always wanted to score against them and I was very lucky to do so on a couple of occasions. That’s why the Baggies fans dislike me, but having sold me, it was their loss and Wolves’ gain.
These days, the players aren’t as home-grown as they used to be, so let’s see whether they know the meaning of a proper full-blooded derby.
But in our day, it was all about rolling your sleeves up and giving the fans three to six months of bragging rights – making sure we got those three points.
I faced plenty of hard-nosed defenders, Graham Roberts being one of them. He was the main culprit.
Their supporters would be singing his name and he would be gesturing to say ‘I’ve got Bully in my pocket’.
Then, the only thing I would do was score against them. And when I scored, put my hand in my pocket as well!
There was plenty of that and lots of hard tackles flying in because you are just desperate to win the game.
Two matches I played in stick out, the one we won 2-1 over there in 1989 when I scored in the 90th minute – Andy Mutch crossing the ball over.
That was my first introduction to the derby and how hostile it was, and then the other one was when Iwan Roberts got a hat-trick and I the other in a 4-2 win in 1996 at The Hawthorns. I just remember running in front of their fans and saying ‘this is what you’ve missed’.
This time around, there won’t be anybody in either squad that has experienced this derby before. So you just hope it will be really hammered home in the Wolves dressing room as to how much this means to everyone. Also worth factoring in is the lack of crowd and how that will affect the game – maybe it would have intimidated a few of our young kids, making them a bit shell-shocked.
It will be interesting to see whether Fabio Silva starts. The lad is going through a tough spell, but if he scores the winner tomorrow he is a made man. We were lacking imagination against Everton and Patrick Cutrone has been on the bench, chomping at the bit.
It is a hard one, but I think I would persevere with Silva for the first 50 or 60 minutes and then go for Cutrone if it is not working.
A goal from open play, in this game especially, would do him the world of good, so it is a big decision for Nuno to make.
Ultimately, though, they have to lick their wounds from the Everton game as we don’t want to be dragged into it
.
